Two Scuba divers killed by a speedboat

[DandyDon]

I got pretty vile with the sailboat pilot who sailed between the dive boats on Molasses Reef. He wasn't going fast but those things don't have the control and stopping ability of a motorboat, and you can't hear them coming. Since he was moving slowly, he may not have broked any rules, but he was still stupid.

 

[plsander]

I got pretty vile with the sailboat pilot who sailed between the dive boats on Molasses Reef. He wasn't going fast but those things don't have the control and stopping ability of a motorboat, and you can't hear them coming.

While the sailor in question was stupid for his navigation/piloting skills and judgement.... I have to take issue with the "control and stopping ability" comparison to motorboats.

The typical sailboat has a much larger percentage of wetted surface for control (rudder & keel or centerboard) than any powerboat. All of the sailboats I have sailed I could turn inside their length -- with less wake production than powered vessels.

And while they don't have brakes, heading up into the wind and backwinding the sails will stop you in short order.

 

[TCWestby]

Last year at Mukilteo we had a close call with a jetskierwho was snockered, buzzed us in 6' of water just as we were about to stand up. Admittedly we had no flags out but there were several groups of divers and when we asked the guy to move deeper he gave is crap. and did doughnuts at high speed.

We called the cops but as they pulled up, not in a boat, he took off. Too bad I didn't have a graple or he'd have delt with us.

 

[Oxy]

I've had 2 close calls, one was last summer I was in 10 feet of water trying to remove a fouled prop from a boat. We had both bow and stern hook in, and an escort boat to tow us back in once the props were off, he was to the stern with his front hook in, a dive flag was being flown, and while I was in the water, some jackass on a jetski actually ran full tilt between the two anchored boats while I was in the water between them. We never found the guy that night but I got a call from the folks I was doing the work for, who informed me that they tracked down his jetski, and he would have a hard time getting it to and from the boat ramp without wheels on the trailer.

Shame on you, I'd have rendered the jetski.

 

[DandyDon]

I don't know why I didn't shoot pics of the sailboat. Always helps to have evidence. I have the date stamp turned off, but the date shot is in the pics anyway, if the camera date & time are set correctly....

 

[Bottomfeeder Brodie]

My opinion is that boater safety courses should be as required as a drivers license. The minimal fee for the boaters license could be used for martime education programs. Not a big advocate of over regulation but sometimes I wonder when I constantly hear the drone of an engine and look up and see someone buzzing my bouy with a jet ski. I havent figured out a good "spike strip" for boats yet, but I'm working on it!

 

[Bottomfeeder Brodie]

oh, a little FYI, I also use the inflatible ring with flag and "diver below". Still get buzzed!

 

[Bottomfeeder Brodie]

A friend of mine was towing a rubber inner tube with a dive flag on it around a lake. He heard a boat coming. The boaters stopped and began pulling him up. When he got to the surface he went limp like he was dead and then suddenly screamed. He said it scared them pretty good.
It seems to me more boaters are ignorant of dive flags and rules of the road than those who are aware of what a dive flag means.

Nice way to end up on the DAN annual report. Air embolism anyone?

 

[DandyDon]

My opinion is that boater safety courses should be as required as a drivers license. The minimal fee for the boaters license could be used for martime education programs. Not a big advocate of over regulation but sometimes I wonder when I constantly hear the drone of an engine and look up and see someone buzzing my bouy with a jet ski. I havent figured out a good "spike strip" for boats yet, but I'm working on it!

The state of Florida, usually the leader in most boating deaths, finally has a resolution in mind - altho they seem intent on keeping the tourist dollar first & foremost...
cbs4.com - Miami Dade: Deadliest Place In U.S. For Boaters

Miami Dade: Deadliest Place In U.S. For Boaters
Florida Topped List As Deadliest State For Boaters

Once again Florida leads the nation in deadly boating accidents with Miami Dade being the deadliest municipality in the state for boaters.

Last year, 77 people were killed in boating accidents in the Sunshine State according to recently released statistics by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; 13 of those deaths were in Miami Dade.

This is the 16th time in the last two decades that Florida has led the nation as the deadliest state for boaters.

In an effort to reduce the number of fatalities each year, the FWC has approved a plan to phase in mandatory boater education requirements over the next 11 years. The FWC statistics show that in 85 percent of all the deadly boating accidents in 2007, the boat's operator had no formal safety training.

11 years...?!

 

[Daxter]

Don, at least they are doing something but the problem as I see it is that the two flags that affect us are usually an afterthought in a boater saftey course. I took a course in New York when I was a kid and remember what the flags meant but not the rules about them. I bet the 2 flags are but 30 seconds of a multi day course.